Expert: Chris Manley - 2/3/2009

Question
I made homemade tomato sauce last night for spaghetti.  It was from cans of tomato sauce, garlic and onions, dried herbs and some red wine.  It was accidentally left at room temperature for 8 hours before freezing.  Will it still be safe to eat?  Thanks.

Answer
If the sauce was made from commercially processed tomato sauce it will likely be too acidic to support the growth of bacteria.  Your recipe looks like it consists of mainly tomato sauce with only a few other ingredients making up a very small fraction of the total volume.  The sauce should be thoroughly reheated when used.